Witness the Origin of the Lightsaber with this Fascinating Behind-the-Scenes Video

Have you ever wondered how the lightsaber was invented and then produced for the Star Wars films? Most of us have, at one time or another, used the Force and unleashed our inner Star Wars fan by battling it out with family or friends in an epic lightsaber duel. When I was a kid my brothers' favourite toys were their very own lightsabers, the ones that took batteries and actually lit up and made sounds when they hit something. They would pretend that one of them was Luke Skywalker, and the other was Darth Vader and would duke it out between the light and dark side right in our living room.

As one of the most iconic aspects of Star Wars, the lightsaber is an incredible combination of medieval warfare and futuristic technology, with the end result being the famous "laser swords" that we have come to know and love in Star Wars films. As is well-known to hardcore fans, the lightsaber blade is indestructible, made from special crystals as a kind of "coming of age" trial for adolescent Jedi, and can cut through anything except Mandalorian Iron, which in the Expanded Universe is basically a lightsaber's "kryptonite". Also the colour of the lightsaber blade reflects the goodness or evil of the one bearing it, with red blades used solely by the evil Sith lords, and blue or green blades normally used by the good and heroic Jedi Knights.

Recently, there has been a flurry of fan videos on Youtube honouring the Star Wars saga. The famous Star Wars youtube video of a teenage kid stumbling around a film studio, clumsily using a mop as a double-sided lightsaber went viral when it was released, and many more videos of lightsaber duels have surfaced since then. In fact, talk show hosts and Youtube video creators seem to be competing to see who can make the most epic lightsaber duel scenes in their own studios or homes.

For a behind-the-scene video and commentary by George Lucas, Mark Hamill and Ben Burtt (the sound effects creator) on how the lightsaber was conceptualized and actually created for the big screen, including its iconic look and sound, please click the link below to the Blastr website.